Series Synopsis

The 72nd NHK asadora Fight is a story about fifteen year old Yuu, whose family becomes separated after an incident involving her father's spring factory. With her undying spirit to "fight" off every obstacle arising in life, Yuu maintains her positive attitude and moves forward in hopes of the day when her family will reunite again.

Yuu's day beings with a secret ritual of visiting a racing horse stable. There, she kindles a unique and precious friendship with a throughbred horse named Jonko, who becomes Yuu's sole confidant in times of hardship.

In the midst of teenage years, Yuu undergoes a series of challenges in her daily life; from striving to make it into her school's prestigious softball team to forging friendships among her classmates. Yet, her life becomes further complicated when her father is forced to close down his spring factory after revealing a scandal involving Yuu's best friend Rika's father. To make ends meet for the family, her mother then makes the hard choice of moving away from home to work as a live-in maid at a Komanokan Inn in Shima Onsen. Despite the tremendous pressure and hardships Yuu faces throughout her life, she continues to battle and conquer every situation with the courage she draws from her kindred spirit, Jonko. --- written by groink

Weekly Ratings

When rating the NHK Asadora dramas, the researching firm samples one or two episodes per week. If there are two episodes sampled in a given week, the rating is the average of the two episodes. Rating information is provided by Video Research Ltd. of Japan. Episode numbering is provided by groink.

Production Credits

Artwork: Nishihara Rieko (the watercolor paintings you see at the end of each episode)

Review

Ogata Naoto plays Keita, the father of the series' heroine, Yuu. Keita, who runs a factory that manufactures springs, is unable to relate to his adolesent daughter.

"I'm not really sure if I look like the father of a 15-year old daughter, Ogata said. "Since this is my first asadora, I might cause some inconvenience until I hit my stride, but I will be trying my best."

When Keita's craftsman's pride leads to problems that force him to close his factory, he and his family are forced to split up. "I play my part always thinking of how much I want our family of four to get back together again," Ogata said, very serious about his role.

Sakai Noriko plays Asako, a mother of two. "This is a challenge for me. I want to play a cheerful mother," she said with a smile.

Asako had always been a housewife, but goes to work as a live-in maid at a hot spring ryokan in order to support her family. "I've always admired strong wives, so I am using this role as a learning experience. I think playing a warm-hearted mother who isn't too unfriendly would be about right," she said.

Once one of the top idols of her day, Sakai today is completely at home as an actress. "I want to cheerfully help the heroine along in whatever small way I can," she said, reassuringly.

--- translated by groink

Notes

NHK aired the semi-annual "Highlights" program, which summarizes the 162 episodes into four 45-minute segments. Air dates/times from 2006-Mar-28 through 2006-Mar-31 from 21:15 to 21:58. All dates/times JST.

Motokariya Yuika (17 in real-life at the time) was chosen from a pool of 1,154 applicants to play 15-year old Yuu.

Images

Click on each image for a detailed view

Exchange of the baton ceremony between Motokariya Yuika (FIGHT) and Murakawa Eri